SLEPT Analysis an Effective Business Tool

SLEPT is an acronym of Social, Legal, Economic, Political, and Technological impacts on a business. SLEPT analysis is designed to examine the macro environmental factors affecting the business. Morris and Golds-worthy describe it as “examining the external factors and issues that may impact on the organization and its stakeholders”.

The first step of the SLEPT analysis is to look at the social effects on the company. Social trends have a vital effect on any business. Consumer spending is linked to trends and the company has to tap into these trends. The increased use of laptops and net books throughout the world is expected to continue to grow which will open new markets for the product. With WIFI areas expanding, the developing world will be able to use the product to reach millions of potential customers.

Any new company has to abide by existing legislation and meet certain requirements set down by government. The legal effects on the company have been found to mainly to be the control of what is placed on the screen. Legislation may be introduced to control elements of what can be shown on the screens. This element falls within the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK and any adverts carried must meet their criteria.

Economic factors refer to items such as buying patterns. As the market continues to grow customers are demanding laptops to be cheaper. The added caveat of being paid by advertisers to use a computer is an economical bonus for the company.

Politically, the prospect of advertisers infiltrating all levels of life could be troublesome. Many civil liberties groups may push the political government to introduce controls. However, these same political parties could easily embrace this new way of distributing their manifesto to the people.

The final area of analysis undertaken is the technological effect on the company, as technology advances it could be will become cheaper to produce the laptops which should make the company more profitable.

Goldsworthy, Trevor Morris and Simon. Public Relations for a New Europe. New York : Palgrave MacMillan Publishing, 2008. 978-0-230-20583-3.